Comparison between immediate effects of soft tissue mobilization along with stretching exercises and without stretching exercises in patients with mechanical neck pain

摘要

Objective: To measure whether soft tissue mobilization along with stretching exercises improves level of disability or stretchingexercises alone increases neck range of motion in patients with mechanical neck pain.Study Design: A randomized comparative trialPlace and Duration: At Royal Institute of Medical Sciences Physiotherapy Clinic Multan, in four months from 1st January 2017 to 30thApril 2017.Methodology: Fifty patients who met inclusion criteria were randomly placed into two groups. Group A, received hot pack and neckstretching exercises and group B, received hot pack, neck stretching exercises and soft tissue mobilization (STM). Immediate effectspost intervention was documented by measuring range of motion (ROM) using goniometer; pain intensity was measure by VisualAnalogue Scale (VAS), Global Rating of Change Scale (GROC) and disability scores on Neck disability index (NDI) 2-4 days posttreatment.Results: The STM group reported a significant improvement on the GROC (p=0.001) immediately after treatment (post treatment).There was no difference between groups for the NDI post-test values, there is statistical insignificance (P=0.408) between treatmentand control group on disability. There is statistical significance (P=0.000) between treatment and control group in pain that wasmeasured by VAS.Conclusion: Soft Tissue Mobilization is effective to relief neck pain immediately and improves range of motion but not up to a mark.Moreover, Soft Tissue Mobilization does not improve levels of disability as compare to the stretching exercises.